The appointment of England's first state jester since the days of Charles I is to be reviewed after distinctly unfunny allegations of job fixing and phoney titles.

English Heritage, the government quango, thought of the bright idea of reviving the post by placing a classified advertisement in the Times, saying applicants "must be mirthful and prepared to work summer weekends in 2005. Must have own outfit (with bells). Bladder on stick provided if required."

The agency gave applicants just two days to apply, leading to protests from jesters all over England that the post was a "fix" and to fury that the agency had purloined the title of England's state jester, thus rivalling the National Guild of Jesters' own national jester.

Now Salisbury's official jester, Jonathan, has forced the agency to have a rethink - by the traditional method of complaining to the town's MP, the Tory Robert Key.

He accused the current state jester, Kester the Jester - otherwise a former maths teacher from Exeter called Nigel Roder - of winning the competition by default because none of his main rivals could get there in time to compete.

This is denied by Kester the Jester, who says he won fairly and squarely. However, Mr Key has got Lord McIntosh, the junior arts minister, to disown the title.

In a letter to Mr Key, Lord McIntosh said: "The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has not endorsed Mr Roder in his position and I can appreciate the unease about him being called a state jester. I think English Heritage were simply keen to generate public interest."

English Heritage insisted that Kester the Jester had been appointed in "an open and fair competition" but said it was now planning to drop the title of state jester, replacing it with "Jester 2006".